Prince Harry, Meghan issue legal threat against BBC over claim Queen wasn’t told about Lilibet name daughter

Harry and Meghan demand retraction as BBC claims the Queen was never asked about their daughter’s name.

Queen Elizabeth II (right) speaks with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, during a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge on June 14, 2018. Picture: Getty Images

Was the Queen told, or was she asked? That’s the vexed question dominating royal circles as legal letters flew from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s lawyers to the BBC about the couple’s naming of their days-old baby daughter, Lilibet Diana.

On Wednesday morning, the BBC was issued with a defamation writ and demands for a retraction from Harry and Meghan’s London based lawyers after the BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond reported that Her Majesty “was never asked” her opinion on the naming of the baby in honour of her childhood nickname.

Buckingham Palace has not denied Mr Dymond’s report, suggesting that Her Majesty may have been presented with the name as a fait accompli after the birth.

It has been suggested that the Queen may have been asked to rubber stamp the name after the baby had been born, rather than being asked her opinion about it.

Representatives for the Sussexes claimed the Queen was consulted in advance of Sunday’s public announcemen and that she had been supportive.

The Sussexes LA-based global press secretary Toya Holness issued a statement claiming the BBC was wrong.

“The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement, in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called,” Ms Holmes said.

“During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.”

Omid Scobie, who wrote Meghan’s hagiography, tweeted a similar line that the Queen was the first family Harry called after Lilibet’s birth.

Those close to Prince Harry confirm that he spoke to close family before the announcement so perhaps this report highlights just how far removed aides within the institution (who learned of the baby news alongside the rest of the world) now are from the Sussexes’ private matters.

— Omid Scobie (@scobie) June 9, 2021

The legal threats and sensitivity over the Lilibet name comes amid criticism that the Sussexes used the Queen’s childhood nickname despite it only being used in recent times by her late husband Prince Philip. The Queen is still grieving the April 9 death of her husband, aged 99.

There is growing disquiet among Palace aides that the Sussexes continually claim to speak for the Queen and reveal personal communications while simultaneously trashing the monarchy and Royal family members.